Thursday, July 30, 2009

Time Leak in the Land of Faerie!

I just finished reading The New Policeman by Irish author Kate Thompson. Though fictional, this book puts forth a very interesting theory about where all of our time (collectively) is going. There is a time leak in Tir na n’Og, the Irish faerie realm. Humans are upset about the leak because they have less and less time to do anything. The faeries are even more distressed, however, because time had always stood still in their land, but it suddenly seems to be moving forward. This means that, unless the time leak is stopped, they will begin to grow old and die. I love fiction that poses the idea that there may actually be something wrong with time itself! I feel like I’m always running around, waving my arms in the air in a frantic effort to get anything done. The last time I remember reading a book with a similar theme was decades ago, when Momo came out in English. It is by German author Michael Ende, whose most famous work is The Neverending Story. In the world of Momo, time is actually being stolen by sinister gray men called the Timesavers. It’s so wonderful -- I have the urge to get if off the shelf right now and start reading it again! Does anyone know of other fantasy books that deal with the issue of where all the time goes?